Re: Pythium Strategies
 

really weird i was just thinking of that phoenix pyre a while ago (today) one MAJOR advantage (if it would work) would be if the master got picked out by duel or such he could spread the fatigue of revival among his comunicants (but im not 100% sure)

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

Yeah, but the advantages are tremendous: you can have multiple masters cast all their buffs within 1-2 rounds, you can safely distribute the fatigue, you can put together combos which would be impossible for any individual unit save a rainbow Pretender(and would be impossible to script for any one mage, anyway), and, best of all, you can have a handful of astral-1 mages cast Astral Shield, Resist Magic, Personal Luck and Astral Weapon without making any of your SCs susceptible to Magic Duel. And since access to matrices means access to hammers, the setup is usually strikingly cost-effective, even if you lose the occasional matrix, slave, or master.

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

and dont forget the fact that the grand thaumaturgs random can buff aswell http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif and as for your comment about that rainbow why not use him as one of the main buffers? astral shield+fire shield+body etheral+twist fate+mist form+air shield http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif survivable anyone?

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

I always meant to test that out. I'd concluded that the only simultaneously efficient and "safe" use for the Forbidden Light was to stick it in that archdemon with the astral/fire combo, give him a bunch of reinvigoration and defense items, attach a retinue of blind communicants and bodyguards to him, and send him off to mind duel, blind, and incinerate to his heart's content. I still don't know whether or not this would actually work. And I imagine the communicants would drop off like flies, if one Phoenix Pyre 'splosion were to start off a chain reaction.

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

spread em out (phoenix power brings u back to life neway)

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

Because he's too valuable for field work, and fragile enough to be taken out by a handful of Bone Grindings or flying troops. Still, if he does survive, that's one hell of a combo. Though Body Ethereal is area 1, and doesn't transfer to communicants. Also, you forgot Invulnerability, Resist Magic, Personal Luck, Personal Regeneration, Summon Earthpower, Strength of Gaia and so very much more. You can fit more buffs into a single matrix misc slot than you can into an entire equipment loadout, so long as you keep the communion masters alive for a round or two.

Then again, I favor this tactic precisely because you don't have to keep them alive to be cost-effective. You're very likely to lose a communion master or two, but they're usually perfectly expendable, and more than worth the sacrifice if they get their spells off for just a few battles.
Not that expendability is the only way to go: if you've managed to get a Tartarian factory going by the lategame, you'll find few better uses for it than this. Two or three Tartarian masters could endow as many tartarian slaves as they like with pretty much every self-buff in the game, and still survive a pitched battle.

Yeah, but after the first death or two, random teleportation just might result in a chain reaction. Does Soul Vortex restore exactly as much fatigue as it drains? If so, it might be a semi-workable solution, when combined with Personal Regeneration.

Edit: Right, just in case I haven't properly overstressed this point: Astral Goddamn Weapon. Perhaps the best SC-killer buff in the game, and a pretty decent everything-else-killer buff, to boot. With no risk at all, save to the astral-1 mage that casts the buff. And you don't even have to get said mage his own matrix.
Ever seen what an armor-negating Herald Lance can do to a demon or Tartarian? It ain't pretty.

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

yea i love astral weapon aswell but then again i love all armour negating damage and as for the body etheral would it not effect communicants even if it affected the master?

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

it does.

man an army of communicants with pheonix pyre could be qute devistating

everytime they die, they blow up... then pop back up

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

that is, if you can keep them from running away

Re: Pythium Strategies
 

just add inanother few non-master mages to use priestly morale restores (or give some standards to communicants) and an easy way ive found to stop all commander-armies from routing is to add a few slow/immobile troops to the rear of the battlefield (so 1 death dosnt cause a complete rout). something else im interested in is would inner sun+phoenix pyre be good on a single reasonably equiped commander? i know it would work on the communicants as its a ritual but i was thinking of making use of it with my marignon witch hunter general